Hatters look forward Sunday to finishing what they started

Sunday

Sep 1, 2013 at 7:35 AMSep 1, 2013 at 5:22 PM

Well, that was fun. Let's do it again. This afternon, in fact.

By Ken Willis and Deborah CircelliStaff writers

DELAND — Well, that was fun. Let's do it again.This afternoon, in fact.They waited 57 years for football to return to Stetson University. What's another day to see how it turns out? The Hatters, looking sharp and leading 10-3 into the second quarter, showed students, alumni and fans what they'd been missing for five-plus decades. Then came lightning, rain, wind and Plan B. This afternoon at 3, they'll resume play. Right about here, we might should add: “Weather permitting.”Often in these parts, things are quite enjoyable right up until it rains. Saturday was no different.Of all the reasons given for restarting football at Stetson University, one in particular is hard to measure. It involves the vibe that accompanies the Saturdays of home games. Being part of the scene Saturday in DeLand meant fully understanding what it all means. Football Saturdays are about more than wins and losses. It's largely about those pregame hours that involve good food, cold drink and like-minded company, complete with a wide variety of background music.Without knowing how things will turn out on the football field this season, it didn't take long to know this: The Stetson family has taken to football season like naturals. Unfortunately, another natural occurrence, the violent Florida thunderstorm, short-circuited the evening festivities just as everyone was shedding the big build-up and slipping fully into game mode. Early in the second quarter, the weather radar gave the type of ominous warning that called for an evacuation of Spec Martin Memorial Stadium.Soon, Spec Martin's freshly planted sod was thoroughly doused by a pounding and wind-blown rain. With 29 months of planning since first announcing a return of football, Stetson's movers and shakers made plans and contingency plans for everything they could control. As always, weather works on its own schedule and reads from its own playbook. As of 9:30 Saturday night, Warner's players and coaches were looking for a place to stay.On the bright side, much of football's appeal is the pregame theater. Those hours were enveloped by sun and humidity — and good times.A little before 5, more than two hours before kickoff, Stetson's brand new football team participated in a pregame routine that has become ritual at college stadiums across the land. Complete with police escort, and with head coach Roger Hughes leading the way, the Hatters walked through a phalanx of fans outside Spec Martin Stadium before entering the stadium and filing into their locker room.Waving a green balloon, Kaden Tanner, 7, shook some players' hands. His brother, Keegan Tanner, is on the team. Stetson President Wendy Libby, dressed in a green shirt and green pants, videotaped the football players making their entrance. “I tried to keep from having tears come down my face,” Libby said after the football players walked by. “These are guys who saw an empty lot with dirt and believed we could do this. We told them if you come to Stetson, you can make history. They believed it and came and we are making history today.”Phil Yonge, who played tackle on the last football team in 1956, said Libby and Stetson “have performed a miracle.” “If I could have one day, I'd wish I could be with them on the field playing ball,” said Yonge, 78, of Orange Park.Parking lots surrounding Spec Martin were filled with people grilling all styles of chicken while students and families tossed footballs.Junior Brooks Robinson, 20, of Phi Sigma Kappa, was decked out in a green bow tie and green pants. “There's 6,000 people in one place cheering us on,” Robinson said. “This will put Stetson on the map.”The Pitts/Howerton families had an elaborate buffet including burgers and veggie and fruit trays.The fathers played baseball together, beginning at age 10, and now their sons are students at Stetson, with one playing on the football team and one on the baseball team. “It's an exciting time to be part of the program,” said John Howerton, whose son, Jack, is on the football team.Earlier in the day, some downtown restaurants and stores got in the football spirit with signs welcoming back football as business surged with alumni, students and parents of students decked out in green Hatter shirts.SportSanity, which sells sports clothing and other items, was “slammed” Friday and Saturday, manager Matt Kraft said. Across the street, Bill Jennings, owner of Bill & Frank's Brickhouse Grill, said business was up about 25 percent Saturday at noon compared to last year, because students generally leave for Labor Day weekend. A few grandparents and parents of football players were also in SportSanity stocking up on supplies.Wayne Yemma and his wife, Celia, of Gainesville, had season tickets to University of Florida football games for more than 30 years, but not anymore because their grandson, Alex Gonzales, is on the team.“We're Hatters now,” Wayne Yemma said.